1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to walk behind mower devices with spreaders, and more particularly to walk behind, segmented, interchangeable lawn mower with broadcast spreader devices.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Conventional lawn mowers and spreaders come in a variety of shapes and sizes and function in a number of ways. Yet none of the prior art examples disclose an interchangeable, replaceable, walk behind mower and spreader device. The following patents represent the present state of the art.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,847,224 to Alden Stout teaches a combined spreader and mower. The spreader has a wheeled frame, a power source on the frame for driving a cutting blade and a rotatable plate simultaneously. The rotatable plate has flanges thereon and is mounted under a hopper having a discharge spout wherein material is discharged therefrom and spread over an area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,541 to Edward P. Emory; Reissued U.S. Pat. No. 32,067 to Edward P. Emory, describes a universal spreader comprising a hopper; a cable by which the spreading of fertilizer/chemical/seed/pesticide/etc., in the hopper may be initiated or terminated; a rotatable, driven agitator; a series of moveable fertilizer delivery tubes or "fingers" for delivering the fertilizer from the hopper to the ground which allows spreader to be fit on lawn mowers of most sizes with handles of different and varied configurations; and a guide securing device which also assists in spreading the fertilizer from the "fingers" while also serving to provide a base for anchoring and adjusting the width of the "fingers" to coincide with the swath of the lawn cut by the blades of the mower. Two additional, accessory devices include handle lock to prevent forward and rearward motion of the lawn mower handle and a temporary, wheel contacting, mounting tool to assist the user in mounting and attaching the hopper unto the lawn mower in a one man operation.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 359,963 to Anthony N. Pink et al. discloses an ornamental design for a granular fertilizer spreader attachment for a lawn mower.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,573,784 to Charles T. Asbury describes a dispensing device with a generally horizontally disposed fan housing, a vertical shaft extending into housing and an impeller on the shaft in the housing, the impeller having a back plate adjacent to the upper wall of the housing and fan blades dependent therefrom, the upper wall of the housing being formed with a central opening coaxial with the shaft, a hopper mounted in the opening and a feed pin eccentrically mounted on the shaft and extending through the opening into the hopper, a plurality of air inlet apertures in the upper wall of the housing disposed about the opening and adjacent the periphery of the back plate, and a peripheral discharge opening in the housing, the inlet openings and discharge opening being screened.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,967 to David R. Thompson describes a self-propelled wheel mounted yard maintenance apparatus carrying an engine to drive the unit and a working element which may be a sweeper brush, a snowplow, a lawn mower or the like. The working element is direct-connected to the engine and is adapted to be rotated to function as the apparatus is moved across a yard. The apparatus includes a pair of drive wheels mounted upon a shaft to rotate to propel the unit. A differential is carried upon a driven shaft connected to the engine and a driving shaft connected to the drive wheel shaft. The differential is free to rotate upon these shafts and when rotating freely, it does not apply any driving torque to the driving shaft. A brake is provided to reduce the rate of rotation of this differential or to stop its rotation completely and in either case, the braking action will impart driving torque to the driving shaft. The driving shaft rotates in a direction opposite to the driven shaft when so restrained by the brake. The working element may rotate in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the drive wheels or in the same direction of rotation by the addition of reversing gears in the mechanisms between the engine and the working element.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,615 to Larry W. Williams shows a snow-moe structure which can be used for cutting grass during one season of the year and for removing snow during another season of the year. The snow-moe includes a wheeled power housing having spaced apart wheels supported at the ends of the axle shafts secured to the housing and upon which is secured a power unit having a power drive member extending forwardly therefrom to engage one of a plurality of adapter units to be connected to and driven by the power housing. In one instance the adapter unit can take the form of a snow blower which has an elongated channel receiving member to be fastened to the wheeled power housing and fixedly secured thereto by vertical bolts passing through the channel and engaging the adapter unit. In another form, the adapter can be a rotary lawn mower which is secured to the power drive unit substantially in the same manner, i.e., having an elongated channel member engaging the channel of the wheeled power housing and secured thereto with vertical depending bolts or the like. The engine drive shaft is in a horizontal plane and the adapter unit has a splined coupling shaft also positioned in a horizontal plane to be connected with a power coupling unit extending from the horizontal drive shaft of the power drive unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,306 to Joseph Cervenka teaches a spreader attachable to a lawn mower, having a hopper, an adjustable orifice at the bottom of the hopper and a rotating regulator for dispensing granular material behind the lawn mower. In one embodiment, a first sprocket attached to the wheel of the lawn mower, and a second sprocket attached to the spreader device receive a chain for driving the rotating regulator of the spreader.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,963 to Joseph J. Walto et al. describes a granular fertilizer spreader which may be attached to a lawn mower. The spreader includes a hopper which is secured to the mower handle, the spreader including drive wheels which frictionally engage the rear mower wheels. An impeller is rotated by the drive wheels, thereby urging fertilizer or other granular material contained within hopper to exit through a series of orifices located along the bottom surface of the hopper. A discharge chute entrains the fertilizer as it exits the orifices and guides the fertilizer along a series of open channels, each channel terminating with an outlet orifice through which the fertilizer is ultimately deposited upon the ground behind the mower deck. The drive wheels are urged into positive frictional contact with the mower wheels by a spring that is secured to the mower handle at a user selected point by a clamp.
Notwithstanding the prior art in this field, it is believed that the present invention, which comprises an a walk behind, segmented, interchangeable lawn mower and broadcast spreader device, as described herein, is neither taught nor rendered obvious.